Posted by TJ Dinsmoor on Fri, Jan 29, 2010 @ 01:49 PM
Check out the overview of Photo Boutique. Photo Boutique will be available to photographers who are looking to create their own online, fully branded, storefront to host images. Photo Boutique sites will help optimize online photo sales for photographers. With Photo Boutique, photographers will be able to set up custom price groups for any photo occasion and manage which products to offer within those custom price groups. Customers will also have the ability to share their photos and created products with their friends and family via email and their social networking sites.
Posted by TJ Dinsmoor on Mon, Jan 25, 2010 @ 10:54 AM
As the count for social media users keeps growing and growing each day, undoubtedly you've been asked are you on Twitter or Facebook yet?
As a photographer, having an online presence of some sort is a good thing, a great thing to be exact. As more people go online each day, they are looking for more information online than ever before.
However, before you indulge into the world of social media (if you haven't already) you should first ask yourself "why should I create social media accounts?" Think about what do you want to get out of it for both you on a personal level and your photography business? Research the tools available and think about how those tools can help you achieve your goals.
Why Use Social Media?
- Become part of conversations
- Find like-minded photographers
- Engage deeper with friends, family, and clients
- Become a "hub" (ReTweet posts, post articles, engage). Make people curious and anxious about what you're going to post next.
- Show your personality.
- Market your photography business in a different way. Integrate online and offline methods together. Promote each channel through your other channels (if that makes sense?) Promote your Twitter profile within Facebook and your blog and vis-a-versa.
The key is to identify what you want your objects to be online. From there, learn the tools for each social networking service. As your network grows, learn about it, see what types of links, articles, and information intrigue people. Then carry out your plan to accomplish your goals. It takes time to build those relationships online, but stick with your plan.
What You Put in is What You Get
People can use social media however they want. If you don't like how someone presents themselves then don't feel obligated to follow them just because they wish to follow you. Each person has an online presence for a reason and theirs may be different than yours.
You will find many photographers that use Twitter who feel the need to follow everybody and to reach as many people as possible. Fine, but like the latter, you do not need to follow them if you don't want to. It's better to have 100 followers that care then to have 1000 followers who don't. Don't feel the need that you have to cater to everybody and just because they are following you doesn't mean you have to follow them back.
Look for people that want to be followed and follow you back. To do this you must put in time, post, engage, start conversations, etc. This is true across the board for all social networking whether you blog or use Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Digg and so on...
How The Lab by Apollo Uses Social Media
If you follow one or all of our social media accounts you know what to expect from us. Whether it is our blog, Facebook or Twitter account we post information that we think is important to our clients and photographers. We post information about our services as a photo lab, monthly specials, news, upcoming events, reviews, different and marketing tactics for our clients to use.
We feature our clients in our monthly e-Flash newsletters as Featured Photographers to recognize their photographic success and achievements. The Apollo Cares section showcases extraordinary efforts in the communities that photographers do on their own time to give back.
Become a Fan on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our blog
Get Started
Don't feel the need to sign up for every service at once. Start out small and once you feel comfortable move into a new service. Again, think over what you want your goals and objectives to be. If you see there is no need to start social media then don't.
If you feel you just want to share your photography Flickr could be an option where you can create photo galleries to showcase your images. If you want to make your studio to have a greater online presence, start a Twitter account to pursue people in your area and push monthly specials.
If you have questions on how to start using social media or any questions in general leave a post, we'll be happy to help you.
Posted by TJ Dinsmoor on Fri, Jan 15, 2010 @ 11:57 AM
1. The Lab by Apollo is a full-service photo lab. When we say "full-service photo lab" we mean everything we do is in-house. Most photo labs only do photographic prints in house while outsourcing the rest of their products. Here at The Lab, we have our own 
KODAK NEXPRESS S3000 that allows us to do a wide range of press printed photo products.
The ProPrints products and services from The Lab include our digital prints, digital proofs, photographic cards, retouching and artwork, finishing and mounting services. If you look at some recent blog posts you will find more information regarding The Lab's retouching and artwork services as well as our finishing and mounting services.
On top of the ProPrints and press printed products Apollo offers its own line of ProPhoto Creations -- specialty photographic products. Everything from mini photo albums to photo dry erase boards are available.
2. As a full service photo lab, The Lab is in beta testing for Photo Boutique which is our SaaS (software as a service) for photographers. Photo Boutique is still undergoing some revisions and updates, but you should not be discourage and still check out what it has to offer.
Photo Boutique will allow photographers to create their own customizable online photo storefront. The Lab recognizes that still a good number of photographers have not merged into the online environment. This service will allow photographers to take advantage of an opportunity to produce more sales online.
To start building an online photo storefront, you will go through a build process that we have designed to be as user-friendly as possible. Keeping the thought in our minds that most photographers do not have a clue about building a website, Photo Boutique will take you through step-by-step on building out your site first by uploading a logo. You will then be able to choose your color scheme that will give your site personality. If you already have a website, Photo Boutique is structured to seamlessly integrate in to retain your brand identity. After you choose your color scheme, you will be able to choose which photo products you would like to offer and manage the pricing on those products.
Once your site is built you can upload images to an online photo gallery where you can manage photo albums. As you go through photo shoots you can upload each shoot to its own photo album and direct customers to your Photo Boutique site, where they have the ability to choose which images they would like to purchase.
As always, we take the manufacturing and shipping responsibilities on our shoulders and The Lab by Apollo will remain virtually invincible to your customers.
Check out our overview and tutorials of Photo Boutique.
3. Our Photo Book selection is one of the largest of any photo labs. We start out with the everyday photo memory book, and sizes going up to 10"x15". A variety of cover options are also available with soft, hard, and photo cover selections. Photo books include a 100 lb. stock with 4 paper options available: standard glossy, high-gloss, ink-absorbent or protective-coated pages.
Lay-flat books come with hinged pages making it perfect for panoramic images that can span across 2 pages. These books include the same cover options as the memory books, however the paper options include a ticker, 110 lb. cover stock matte paper.
Proof books are great for showing your customers photos taken from the shoot. These books are easy to create with our auto-fill option where a 16-page book can fit 64 images. Same cover options apply and the paper option includes a 100 lb. glossy paper type.
Guest books are perfect for weddings where the couple can show off their engagement photo. The same cover options apply and the pages include a 100 lb. matte paper perfect for writing on. Guest books comes with 3 different lined formats for registry pages.
Saving the best for last, the Artisan Collection Book is the Grand-daddy of them all. Cover options are still the same as the ladder, however the premium leather bound cover is what makes this book stand out from the rest. The pages are composed of a premium deckle-edge paper type that resembles that of watercoloring paper. The smooth finish and sturdy weight of the paper stock give it excellent ink absorbing qualities.
Posted by TJ Dinsmoor on Wed, Jan 06, 2010 @ 11:03 AM
Fort Dearborn-Chicago Photo Forum
The first photography competition was held in 1900 in conjunction with the Art Institute of Chicago. 115 years later marks an honorary occasion for the photo forum as they host their first ever competition that is conducted online.
Photo categories will be split up into 5 different categories:
- People
- Places
- Still-life
- Nature
- Alteration of Reality
January 15, 2010 highlights the beginning of submissions for the competition and will extend until April 15. The early bird entry fee ($28/first 3 images, $8 for each additional image) deadline comes to a close on February 15. After that date the price jumps to $35 for the first 3 images and $10 for each additional image.
Membership application fee waived
All photographers who enter the competition may also join the Fort Dearborn-Chicago Photo Forum. If you submit your application to join before the competition closes, the one-time $35 membership application fee will be waived. Click here for details on joining the Forum.
The Lab has the honor to print and mount the 30 winning images that will be displayed in the Morpho Gallery in Chicago.
Winners will submit their high res images (16"x20" @250ppi) to The Lab by May 17, 2010. The winning images will be displayed in June 2010 (date TBD).
To learn more about the International Photography Competition click here.
Posted by TJ Dinsmoor on Tue, Jan 05, 2010 @ 11:09 AM
The Lab by Apollo understands your clients likes things to be done in a timely 
fashion that is why we make sure they are completed within a 24 hour time frame. Digital proofs even have the option of color correction in several sizes. We can also add a variety of borders that add an artistic touch at no additional cost.
Digital Proof Sizing
If you are shooting with a 2:3 aspect ratio (35mm) the best sizes are 3 1/2"x5", 4"x6", and 5"x7". 4"x5" and 5"x5" are best fitted for 4:3 aspect ratio cameras. When ordering digital proofs be sure to order the format proof size specified to your camera for the best results. Also, note that all digital proofs are center cropped.
Ordering Digital Proofs
When ordering digital proofs with The Lab, ROES (Remote Order Entry System) allows you to crop any image to proof proportions or order using your own predesigned borders. The Lab also has proof borders available in ROES. Proofing service is available from digital image files only.
Digital Proofs must be saved in sRGB color space and 8-bit. By saving digital proofs in this manner, it will ensure that it matches our internal color profiles. We recommend that when you save your digital images that you save them as the highest quality JPEG (12), and file names should contain numbers and letters only and not exceed the 15 character limit.
If there is any submission errors, we will happily fix your order. Be sure to have your order number that is provided in the confirmation email upon completing your order.
